Overdue
by Ugly Kitten
Summary: A massively overdue book due to his younger stepbrother sends Kurama out into a March storm. Pay the fine, get back home. Simple, right? Not when there's a Shihana to deal with. Oneshot. Character death (tho not Kurama).


Just a quick break from my novel-length stories. This is my entry for the "Evil Spring" contest at For some reason, websites often don't come out on this site…It's on Media Miner Dot Org.

I've had this idea floating in my head for a while and just couldn't pass up the chance.

So, what would you do if your library book was abysmally overdue? Would you dive out into a spring "shower" to return it? Well, I think Kurama would. He gets far more than he bargained for, however, as a Shihana is waiting…

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho. However, I do own the ideas behind the Shihana.

Overdue 

…

…

…

Clouds boiled over and over one another in the sky, tags of lightning and the laughter of thunder. Water poured from the sky in sheets. His feet splashed the puddles as he raced to find shelter from the sudden spring storm.

"Where did this _come _from?"

He panted for breath. Both arms were clutched protectively around a book he didn't own. The reason he was out on this _fine_ March day. Kurama stared out from under his sodden deep crimson bangs. He was still at least a block from the library and the rain showed no signs of letting up. His mother would be worried about him.

A pink flush colored his cheeks despite the freezing rain. How could he have forgotten about the book? It was over _six weeks_ late! If mother found out about this, she would be so disappointed in him. Even if it really was his stepbrother's fault.

Kurama put on another burst of speed. Lightning flashed overhead. He muttered under his breath about crazy human sayings. "In like a lamb, out like a lion." He'd give up his Rose Whip if he could find out where humans had this about March weather. Demons were naturally in tune with the weather but since the advent of technology, humans seemed desperately out of it.

Finally! He dove out of the water and under the stone arch that funneled into the library. Now just to open the gold flap and return to book. Kurama's hand wrapped around the handle. To his surprise, the flap didn't open. He sighed, frustrated, and turned to leave.

"You're not going to return it after coming all this way?"

Kurama turned around to face the source of the voice. A very pale young woman with intensely focused golden eyes held open the door. All he could see were the eyes. Were those normal human colors? And wasn't the library supposed to be closed on Sundays?

"Come on inside."

Kurama, dripping wet from head to foot, crossed the threshold into the library. It was lit entirely by candlelight. Where had she found so many candles? They covered the bookcases, at least a dozen to the twenty or so shelves that the tiny library had.

"Is the power's out?" He was certain that the stores on either side of the library had been well lit.

"Power?" Her golden eyes flickered into his. Kurama, usually completely unperturbed by the most gruesome of sights, felt a chill run down his spine. That gaze was neither sensual nor did it suggest power. At the same time, he felt that he had best tread carefully.

"Never mind."

"How late is your book?"

Kurama blinked in surprise. "How did you know it was late?"

A smirk cross the woman's face, though it was more in her eyes than there. Kurama was reminded strongly of Hiei. "Shi knows these things."

Kurama nodded. "It's six weeks overdue. It was buried in my stepbrother's room. I'm not exactly certain why he would want it…" Kurama's stepbrother wasn't as fond of reading as he was.

"We all make mistakes. Shi made one many, many years ago."

Golden eyes locked on his. Another chill. The woman held out her hand for the book. For a minute, Kurama could have sworn by one of his tails that the book had passed through it. The woman held it firm, however.

"Interesting. _Frankenstein_, by Mary Shelley. Did you know Shelley was nineteen when she wrote it? On a dare from her husband, Percy, and some of their writer friends. She, of course, won."

"It was enjoyable," Kurama said. "But I found the writing to be stilted. She was trying too hard to impress. A reflection of the times, perhaps?"

"Yes…Very true," Shi said, a smile lighting her eyes. "And as for your payment…"

Kurama gulped inwardly, though he dared not show it. Mother would wonder where the majority of his allowance had gone when he returned with so much of it gone. Shi rested her golden eyes upon his spring green ones.

"You have very beautiful eyes," Shi said. " Has anyone ever told you?"

"My mother," Kurama half-answered. He abhorred the girls who constantly fawned over him at school. He wished they would leave him alone. Shi smiled as she set _Frankenstein_ down on the "returned" pile.

"I'll let you go on this one," she said. "You seem to a very responsible young man and this was merely an accident. We'll keep it just between us." Shi pressed a thin white finger over her lips with a whispery sound.

"Thank you, ma'am." Kurama bowed politely and excused himself.

He dove back out into the torrential rain and splashed through the flooding streets back home.

When Kurama arrived home, Koenma was waiting for him in his teenage form. The godling held one of Kurama mother's teacups on a saucer. He noticed that there was a soft clacking noise; it was Koenma's hands, shaking.

"Were they really all that bad?" Koenma's tone was accusatory. "Do you have that justification on your conscience?"

"What?" Kurama blinked in surprise. "What do you mean? I was just at—"

"Don't lie to me, Kurama! I saw what you did! I saw it with my own eyes!" Koenma shouted. Kurama stared at him. Koenma sighed and turned on the living room TV set. A reporter appeared, grave, before Kurama's high school.

"…population of this high school. Seventy-three girls were found brutally murdered. Eyewitnesses claim that a fox spirit, of all things, was the culprit. The murder weapon seemed to be a whip made of green leather and spikes. Is it the storm that's causing these strange hallucinations? Mary is with one of the victims—"

The TV cut off. Koenma seethed, glaring at Kurama.

"You're under arrest for the murder of seventy-three humans. You're hereby sentenced to life without parole at the Spirit World Penitentiary. If I have to, I'll make Yusuke guard your cell. Come quietly, Kurama."

"But Koenma! I was just at the library, ask Shi!"

Koenma sighed. "That reminds me, I have to return that book… Take him away!"

As soon as the jailer had vanished with Kurama, Koenma sighed. "Botan…Please, take care of Shiori Minamino. She will want to know why her son murdered her."

"Yes, sir." The normally bubbly blue-haired Grim Reaper appeared at his side. "I will."

"Good. Now, as for this book…"

Although Koenma had access to nearly every book in the known universe, he had once been a fugitive from his own future kingdom. During that time, he had taken an identity, passing the time by reading. He still had one of those books. It was abysmally late. The prince of Spirit World hardly had time for mediocre things like returning library books from the time he'd been exiled from Spirit World.

"I suppose I had better return it while I have time…Seventy-four deaths in one afternoon additional…" he sighed. "What got into Kurama?"

Koenma walked calmly through the spring rain. It was actually quite soothing to the body, if one was in no hurry. And Koenma wasn't going to hurry to start stamping again.

The ogres would take care of things until he returned.

His father controlled the lightning, of course, and Koenma knew where the strikes struck before they did. He merely dodged them as he made his way under the same arch that Kurama had crossed not half an hour prior to himself.

He jiggled the book slot, frustrated. How could he possibly return the months-overdue book if the stupid book slot wouldn't open! With a sigh, Koenma turned away. He was just about to open a portal when a voice beckoned him.

"Are you returning that today?"

Koenma stared at the pale young woman, whose golden eyes caught and held him firm on the porch. He nodded, feeling a cold chill. Maybe it had been a bad idea to walk in the rain.

"Come on in."

He followed the woman into the library, surprised to find it completely lit by candlelight. Hadn't all the other stores been all right? Did the power go off right before he came in? Koenma brushed it off and handed the book to the young woman.

"Ah. _Hamlet_. A good play to keep out, if it's going to be late." The woman gave a knowing smile, though it was more in her eyes than her mouth. "Shi knows of this story well."

"Is that your name?" Koenma asked. Kurama had said something about Shi at the library.

"Yes."

"Was there a boy here earlier, a guy with long red hair and green eyes?"

"Yes, he was here. He returned _Frankenstein_."

Koenma studied the woman, and then he realized his mistake. He smiled at her and handed her the book. Tried to keep his mind a subtle blank. If she were to catch on to what he knew, even he, the prince of Spirit World, would die.

"Strange, the ending," said Shi. "How everyone dies except Horatio?"

"Yes, but Shakespeare was rather dark in his plays," Koenma agreed. Blank. Keep mind blank. He only hoped Botan would be all right. He slapped the thought away quickly.

Had she caught it?

"Darkness has many levels," she said.

"I agree," Koenma said. Like Hiei. He sometimes wished that Hiei would just go away. The bloodlust was still in the fire demon's eyes. With a start, he realized that he was still holding the binding of the book.

"Sorry," he said. "How much do I owe?"

Shi smiled at him. "I think we both know that I've already obtained that, Lord Koenma."

He gulped visibly. A raindrop slid down his back. "I-I don't know what you're talking about. My name is Rei Takayama."

Shi only smiled again. "Good bye, Lord Koenma. Happy trails back to Spirit World."

He softly sighed in defeat. Shi would not leave until she had four victims. Her stay in this library on this March day would continue until then. He couldn't stop it. It was the way of the Shihana.

Koenma opened a portal to Spirit World and made the jump.

"Ogre, go and bring Kurama to me," Koenma said as soon as he stepped into his office.

"But, Koenma, sir!"

"Bring him to me!"

"Yes, sir."

"And Ogre? Tell Hinageshi that she is the new head Pilot of the River."

"But—"

"Do it!"

Koenma sank into his seat as the blue ogre left the room. A single tear leaked from his eyes. He had failed her. He had failed everyone. Even now, the Shihana was at work. It was only a matter of time before both Botan and Hiei were dead.

The ogre returned with a bound and gagged red-haired Kurama. Silent tears were all that remained of the boy. Koenma sighed and ordered the ogre to shut the door. As soon as this was done, Koenma untied Kurama.

"You're innocence has been proven." He explained to the baffled look in Kurama's tear-stained eyes. "I take you heard of your mother?"

Kurama looked away.

"That woman is no librarian," Koenma said. "She is a Shihana."

Kurama's gaze left the floor. "A Shihana. Explain."

Koenma started. It was a rare thing to hear a fox spirit, let alone one like Kurama, use such stilted speech. His mother's death must have hit harder than Koenma thought.

"A Shihana only appears once every four hundred years. She takes the form of a pale woman with golden eyes. Her duty is simple.

"The first four people to approach her receive two things. The first is the death of their most hated entities. In your case, the girls. My case, Hiei. The second is the death of their most beloved. For you, that's your mother. For me, it was Botan."

Koenma's hand fisted on his desk. "And she always sends out a clone of herself, disguised as the person she is 'helping'."

"You suspect we are only the first two to have encountered her?"

"I have reason to believe that I was the third. She only awaits the fourth."

"We cannot stop her?"

"No. Her powers are based in the Netherworld's crystal, which vanished with Yakumo. It doesn't matter where it is. She always appears despite it all."

Kurama sighed and sank onto the floor beside Koenma's desk. "I cannot show my face in town again."

"Actually, you will be able to," Koenma said. "Strangely enough, she took on the form of Youko, rather than Shuichi."

Kurama and Koenma sat and waited for the imminent information of the fourth and final victim of the Shihana. It didn't take long at all. The blue ogre that Koenma was so often annoyed with burst through the door seconds later.

"Koemna, sir! Yukina and Yusuke…they're dead! Kazuma Kuwabara murdered them!"

"What!" Koenma stared at the blue ogre, his mouth hanging wide open. "Is there anyone else? Anyone else who's died?

"Um…yeah, some movie store clerk, about the same time, actually," the ogre said. "I think he hit on Yukina a few days ago."

"Bring Kuwabara here. Kurama, we're going."

Koenma opened yet another portal and pushed the red-head through. The library loomed before them, the door flapping in the winds of the spring rain. The two walked into the library, to see four books stacked one on top of the other. The Shihana was gone.

"_Tale of Two Cities_,_ Frankenstein_,_ Hamlet_, and _Bear in the Big Blue House_," Koenma said. "Do you think the first was a child?"

"No, Kuwabara liked that show," Kurama said. "I suspect the first had _Tale of Two Cities_." He sighed deeply. His mother was dead…How could he live with himself knowing that he'd inadvertently caused her death?

"Don't worry, Kurama. I will appeal to my father about these deaths. We must discover a way to stop the Shihana."

Kurama nodded quietly. His hair was finally beginning to dry out. The godling and the reborn demon stepped out onto the porch of the library. The rain had stopped.

"It's time to start putting together the pieces again," Kurama said.

"Yes, I agree," Koenma said. "Do you think we'll still have to pay the fines on those books?"

…

…

…

I decided to write about the ghost of Shihana from a back story that I had from an original story. Basically, Shihana was the last person to die before the Netherworld vanished, so she was locked inside the power sphere.

Shi means both "death" and "four". Hana means "flower". Flowers often have duel meanings, as well. The rose, for instance, has the beautiful flower (the good part), and thorns (the bad part). So, Shihana is death four times over to both the good and the bad.

Neat, huh?

This story kinda came at me from outta nowhere and I wrote it in under an hour. I have been toying with the idea of a library ghost for a long time, but this idea about the Netherworld just smacked me in the middle of the forehead. Then I found the contest on Media Miner…and it was all downhill from there.

So, what'd you guys think?


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